Lisna is a racist: confirmed.

^ HaHa!

^ Thank you for not being offended, DWV, because I know from our chats in the A Capella Wars thread that you like rap quite a lot.

I guess for me there are several typical elements that don't appeal very much:

i) the insistent beat
ii) the predictable rhyming pattern. Before rap, the word for poems with overly-simple rhyming was "doggerel" and it used to turn up in Hallmark cards. Here's an example I just googled:-

iii) the routine use of bad language. With me, it's a reaction I can't override; I just don't like hearing the F*** or S*** words, except in moments of extreme emotion.
iv) I don't like the macho attitude behind some lyrics either. Women have fought long and hard to be treated as equals to men, and the little rap that I've heard seems larded with denigrating comments about women.

I could and do tolerate one or two of the above, but rap just ticks too many negatives for me, or at least it has done so far.

Apart from the beat thing those are all kinda optional in rap.
I guess even the beat is optional but I'm just not into beatless stuff.

You should check out Kate Tempest's "Let Them Eat Chaos".
It's my go-to rec for people who don't really like the genre.
Some of the social commentary is a bit heavy-handed but overall it's very well done and heavily rooted in poetry.
Also a concept album.

Really? I feel like that'd be pretty rough for someone who doesn't like the genre. Reading Lisnas criticisms I'd reco something along the lines of:

Emanon - The Words


or

Grieves - Irreversible (this has a nice Three Dog Night - Old Fashioned Love Song sample)


or

Blackalicious - Aural Pleasure

Hip hop's changing and they are finally having discussions about the homophobia and the misogyny in hip hop. The newer rappers are pushing the direction away from it.

grindy, DWV, Lucem Ferre:-

Thank you for posting such polite and restrained responses to my list of grumbles. I'll check out your recs later on today and let you know how I get on. :thumb:

Well, I haven't had a miraculous conversion like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, but I can see that there are more interesting things than I'd imagined in the rap genre.

> with Emanon The Words, predictably, I liked the jazzy instruments that gave the impression that it wasn't rap at all. When the guy started singing, I was mainly reminded of something else that I don't much like about rap, and that's the speed at which people sing and the length of time they go without pausing for breath. It's clever, but makes me slightly anxious, rather like when you watch a trick footballer who can keep a ball off the ground for minutes at a time: "He's gonna drop it! When's he going to stop!"

> To me, Grieves' Irreversible was a big improvement. As well as having lots of aural surprises the lyrics were interesting, clearer, and at a slightly slower pace. I could understand most of the words, and a reminiscense about childhood is a gentle topic I can relate too, so Grieves scores very well on the non-macho scale.

> Kate Tempest turns out to be a girl from England, so right off the bat she is atypical as a rapper. In fact I liked the stripped down sound of this track, which immediately caught my attention with the homely details in the lyrics and Kate's contempt for modern Brit culture:-



So, not a total rap convert, I'm afraid, but thanks to your recs I won't be so dismissive of it in future: there's more variety than I realized, and Grieves and K Tempest are both artists that I might return to. Thanks.

I only here for the bump and blitz. I'm not really into rap. I don't where my taste stands with the MusicBanter hip hop & rap enthusiast corner. I am sure at best they are laughable. So forgive me in advance for these recommendations and videos.

"Travelling At The Speed of Thought" samples Numbers by Kraftwerk.

UltraMagnetic MC's - Travelling At The Speed of Thought


Del tha Funky Homosapien - Eye Examination


Eric B. & Rakim - Juice

As expected. Glad my point was made though. Much of what you described is typical in the genre, but that's not all rap is and it's nice to breakdown some of the stereotypes people tend to have about it.

It's very difficult to find songs I'd to reco someone like yourself.

^ Well that's nice to hear, Neapolitan! I liked your rec number two, Eye Examination, especially the oozy, splashy sounds at the beginning.

^ Yes, I'm glad as well that you shared your insights into modern rap even though you knew it might be a rather difficult assignment. Thanks again for taking the trouble to push me into at least putting aside my previous knee-jerk reaction to rap. :thumb: